MPS won't need State help - De Vincenti (3)

01/12/2016

'Perfectly able' to raise capital alone

Rome, December 1 - Troubled Tuscan lender Monte dei
paschi di Siena (MPS) is "perfectly able to capitalise itself on
the market" and "there will be no need for any State
intervention" to bail it out, Cabinet Secretary Claudio De
Vincenti said on the sidelines of the 'Italy corporate
governance 2016' forum Thursday.
"The capital hike is going ahead and we are very, very
confident that the MPS operation will end very well," he said.
Last week MPS shareholders approved a five-billion-euro
capital increase for the lender, which is Italy's oldest and
third-largest bank.
The capital increase is a key step in its rescue operation.
The shareholders meeting followed European Central Bank (ECB)
and Bank of Italy approval of the capital increase.
MPS needs to raise the fresh capital after it emerged as the
poorest performer in European stress tests earlier this year.
MPS has said it expects a bond-to-share conversion it plans
as part of its rescue operation to be worth 1.057 billion euros.
The gross cost of the rescue amounted to 448 million euros.
MPS has just unveiled a voluntary public cash tender offer
for 11 subordinated bonds to a total value of 4.3 billion euros.
The move is part of a broader recapitalization project for
MPS which, in the event of failure, may have to be dissolved.
The bank also recently announced it had reached a deal for
the sale of its non-performing loans platform to the Cerved
Group for 105 million euros.